Night reading| Jiangnan autumn water meaning

September the mountains are lovely. Wild fruits ripen in the autumn breeze, red hawthorn, wild apples, and fried in August, all of which exude a charming fragrance on the branches. This is the benefit of the mountains. The mountains and wilderness in the Suhu Lake area are scarce, only the water surface, and the autumn water in September is also lovely, and Wumen Water Town is mostly the freshest thing at this time.

For example, "Water Eight Immortals". The "eight immortals of water" spoken by Suzhou people include Qianshi Shi, Ciitake mushroom, cocoon white, lotus root, cress, water chestnut, lettuce, and water chestnut, most of which are marketed in late summer and early autumn. One day near the end of summer, I went to the vegetable market and suddenly found that there were more mustards, that is, chicken head rice. Chicken head rice, water lily family, genus Cyprinus. The husk shape of chicken head rice is like a chicken head, the beak of the chicken protrudes, and the peeled fruit is chicken head rice. Chicken head rice, which is accustomed to Suzhou people, is also a seasonal fresh thing in early autumn.

Everyone knows that chicken head rice is difficult to pick, in order to ensure the freshness of chicken head rice, farmers from picking to peeling, no more than one day or night. The only way to preserve the hand-peeled chicken head rice in Suzhou is to divide it into small portions, add water in a plastic bag and freeze it. Therefore, when chicken head rice was first launched, the price was quite high. Back then, Zheng Banqiao praised "the most Jiangnan autumn August, chicken head rice buck pearl round". Chicken head rice grain by grain, shaped like pearl jade, which makes people see the joy.

The most classic way for Suzhou people is to use it to burn a delicate osmanthus sugar water chicken head rice. Or, simply cooking a bowl of chicken head rice porridge is also a beauty in ordinary life. This fresh chicken head rice is cooked soft and glutinous, and has some chewy strength, and the sweetness of the sugar water has a trace of osmanthus aroma, conveying the fragrance of autumn, eating chicken head rice in autumn, has the effect of tonifying the kidney and essence, strengthening the spleen and removing dampness. When chicken head rice is on the market, many vendors in the vegetable market sell it, it seems that chicken head rice is an autumn messenger, and the taste of chicken head rice is the taste of early autumn.

Then the water red ling was also put on the table. Most of the waters across the country are produced by water chestnut, and four-horned water chestnut, two-horned water chestnut and hornless water chestnut are found everywhere. The woman of Cailing sang a song of Cailing in her heart, sitting in a small wooden basin to pick red lings. The people in the small wooden basin pull a handful of water horns up on the surface of the water, ripe them off, and throw them back into the water if they are too small. This is the scene I imagined in front of the red lings on the vegetable stall, after all, I didn't really sit in a small wooden basin to pick the lings in autumn. Suzhou's water red ling, suitable for raw consumption, its small size, full of water, crisp shell, peel the shell and bite down, a trace of sweetness will permeate the tongue. In "Dream of Red Mansions", before Shi Xiangyun moved to Jia Mansion to live for a long time, Baoyu ordered someone to send her a box of food, and the simple small food box contained two things, fresh red ling and chicken head rice.

It is a close relative of rice and also ripens in autumn. The tall white fields have long leaves, but ordinary people do not know them, and among the dense long leaves, there is a cocoon with a big belly, which is the daily seasonal vegetable delicacy of the people in the autumn water village. Cocoon bamboo, also known as cocoon shoot, high melon, pine shoot, high bamboo shoot, is a perennial aquatic herb of the genus Poaceae. At this time, the cocoon white began to grow wildly, and there was cocoon white every day on the autumn dinner table.

Autumn cocoon is not only the best time of the year, but also the cheapest time, and the most common bowl of meat slices is a daily and delicious method. Yuan said in the "Suiyuan Food List": "Stir-fried meat and fried chicken can be used in white and white." Cut into whole sections, sauce and vinegar, especially good. Simmering meat is better. "The ingredient itself is exquisite and beautiful, but also contains deliciousness, no matter how it is used, sliced or hob pieces, shredded and stir-fried or boiled soup, shredded white meat or oil braised cocoon white, cocoon white scrambled eggs, are all sweet and sweet.

Water chestnuts and lotus root, because the season has passed, not to mention, but a little later, baskets of mushrooms are also unveiled at the vegetable stall. The mushroom has just been put on the market, so be sure to buy two pounds to make a fresh stir-fried meat slice of the mushroom. For the people of Jiangnan, the listing of the mushroom indicates that autumn has come deeply. The mushroom is sweet and can nourish the lungs. You can't imagine that this round mushroom with a small tail is so sticky and sweet, and when it is braised or stewed with other ingredients, the mushroom will absorb the flavor of other ingredients and create its own unique delicacy. Ciitake mushrooms are braised together with pork, and it is a classic preparation method of meat and vegetarian combination, "Add a little cappi mushrooms to braised pork, and the meat flavor will melt into the mushrooms, which is particularly delicious." "Some people say that if you don't eat this thing for a long time, you will think about it in your heart, read it, go to the vegetable market and buy it, eat it one by one, and autumn will slowly pass.

Jiangnan people - more specifically, such as Suhu people, when it comes to these things such as "Water Eight Immortals", they can be familiar with their unique charm. Jiangnan people pay special attention to the influence of seasons on the human body, and also understand the relationship between seasons and diet, and then run this diet through the understanding of seasons and times.

Living by Taihu Lake, not only chicken head rice, water red rhombus, cocoon white, mushrooms and other vegetarian dishes are in front of you in this season, but also the "Taihu Lake Three Whites" are famous. "Three whites of Taihu Lake" are three kinds of meat in the water, namely white fish, whitebait and white shrimp. White fish, also known as white minnows, are no strangers to fishermen in the lower reaches of the Qiantang River, who often catch white minnows on the Qiantang River, and the farmhouses by Taihu Lake use white minnows as the best choice for steamed fish. The white fish of Taihu Lake was famous as early as 1300 years ago and was known as the "first fish in Wuxi". In the Song Dynasty, Fan Cheng wrote a local chronicle "Wu County Zhi": "The white fish out of Taihu Lake wins, the people get it, and the Sui Dynasty pays tribute to Luoyang." This shows that as early as the Song Dynasty, Taihu white fish was enjoyed as a tribute to the emperor. This fish, it is said that it is not yet raised in captivity, is mainly caught by nature.

The whitebait of Taihu Lake is even more famous. The last time I was in Fuxian Lake in Yunnan, it was in September, and I saw the lights on the lake that trapped whitebait late at night, and the stars flickered non-stop, and the locals said that the whitebait in Fuxian Lake was originally from Taihu Lake. The whitebait in Taihu Lake is only five or six centimeters long and resembles a jade hairpin. There were once 1,676 whitebait in one kilogram. When it swims in the water, it is transparent, and you can only see a water line crossing it, which gives it the meaning of fairy wind Dao bone; As soon as it comes out of the water, it dies, because it does not eat human fireworks. After coming out of the water, the body of the silverfish gradually changed from transparent to snow-white, soft and boneless, which made people involuntarily feel a little pretentious sadness. This Taihu whitebait, known by its ancient name as "Fish of the Broken Neck", was once a tribute for the Kangxi Emperor. Taihu whitebait can be caught all year round, and fresh whitebait is eaten raw, and it is said to have a light cucumber fragrance. Whitebait steamed eggs are the most safe food for people in this place.

As for the white-shelled shrimp of Taihu Lake, needless to say, its tender meat, delicious taste, and high nutritional value are one of the aquatic products loved by the people of Suzhou since ancient times. Ordinary shrimp will turn red after death, but Taihu white shrimp is not, and it will be white all over when cooked. In the Qing Dynasty's "Taihu Lake Preparation", there is a record of white shrimp: "Taihu white shrimp is in the world, and the color is still white when cooked". Lake Taihu white shrimp is not only rich in protein, but also contains a variety of nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, iron and vitamin A. In late autumn, go to Taihu Lake to play, "Taihu Lake Sanbai" is a must, steamed a white fish, scrambled eggs or stewed eggs with whitebait, and then a drunken white shrimp, these delicious delicacies on the table, there is no reason to make people fall in love and get drunk.

In autumn by Taihu Lake, the water is spiritual, fresh and nourishing, and it is a blessing for people to live in the south of the river. Spring has a hundred flowers and autumn has a moon, autumn water is meaningful, autumn water is intentional. The meaning of autumn water is to bring out the "eight immortals of water" together with the "three whites of Taihu Lake". Autumn in Taihu Lake is so generous, and autumn is not wasted.